He is only the second Indian to have a 150-plus score in T20s after Kiran Navgire’s 162 not out in 2022
File photo: Tilak Varma hit 151 for Hyderabad against Meghalaya in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy • Associated Press
India batter Tilak Varma has become the first player – male or female – to hit centuries in three successive innings in T20 cricket. He achieved the feat when he struck 151 off 67 balls in Hyderabad’s Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2024-25 opener against Meghalaya in Rajkot.
Tilak, 22, headed into the domestic T20 competition on the back of consecutive hundreds in South Africa – 107 not out in Centurion followed by an unbeaten 120 in Johannesburg. With his knock for Hyderabad, he became the first Indian male cricketer to have a 150-plus score in T20s. Kiran Navgire, who now plays for Maharashtra, had scored an unbeaten 162 playing for Nagaland against Arunachal Pradesh in the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy in 2022.
Tilak batted at No. 3 against Meghalaya and finished with a strike rate of 225.37 after walking out in the first over, hitting 14 fours and 10 sixes before falling on the last ball of the innings. He was severe on medium pacer Dippu Sangma, off whom he scored 50 off 18 balls with six fours and three sixes. He added 122 for the second wicket off just 48 balls and that formed base for Hyderabad’s 248 for 4, their highest score in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. It is also the fifth-highest total in the history of the competition.
Tilak was one of five players Mumbai Indians retained ahead of the auction for IPL 2025, having played for them in 2023 and 2024.
